When Tim prepares green beans in the Italian style Tim recalls his grandmother Emily who was a gorgeous Italian woman with long white hair and a smiley blue eyes. She would explain a recipe using one swipe of her wrist and say, “Oh, it’s so simple!”When I cook italian-style beans I’m thinking about Tim whom I think of as the person who introduced the beans together alongside avocados and delicious sandwich sandwiches grilled with cheese as well as raw milk directly from the farmer my life.
While we only were introduced face-to-face for the very first time during a chilly January evening in 2010 and then began visiting the towns of each other monthly soon after, Tim and I grew to get to know each other through an entire year of long distance conversations.
The kind of thing that occurs on the phone and via email, along with Twitter updates and images posted on Instagram.
We’d already been talking for a few months when he posted a picture of this particular dish on social media one night, a plate piled so high with green beans and sauce, you’d think it was the side dish at a dinner party for four rather than the happy, hearty main meal enjoyed by one 20-something-year-old man.
“Yeah, I like green beans, too,” I’ll remember telling him that on the phone, dividing vegetables into different levels of liking and disliking, with cabbage at the bottom, and green beans being on the high end. “I think they’re probably the vegetable I like best.”
This statement was made from a point of view that was similar to the majority of people’s perspectives in America I believe or at least similar to that of the people I have known or those I watched on television.
I lived in a house who ate green beans cooked similar to the way we would eat carrots or peas (and it wasn’t the healthy kind! ), alongside mashed potatoes and chicken dinners.
My mom would sometimes toast almonds sliced to sprinkle on top of the dish, and there was an assortment of Green Bean Casserole during each Thanksgiving dinner.
As an adult during my beginning days of blogging I’d had the courage to roast green beans over high heat, then cover the beans with lemon juice, and marvel at the crispy, blistered outcomes. I’ve even learned how utilize the Pressure cooker to reduce some time cooking.
Here’s how Tim prefers green beans as they were eaten by him throughout his childhood hours to the east of me: Italian style, soft and wilting and dipped in chopped tomatoes, and infused by garlicky oils. It’s how his mom prepared them, as well as the way his mom cooked the beans before she did.
Tim first cooked Italian green beans in this way for me shortly after my move to Nashville in the first few months of our lives when we lived only 20 minutes, not eight hours – from one another and could cook dinner together each evening.
On most nights, we were working side-by-side, Tim chopping vegetables while I cooked on the stove. But on the first night that we had a meal together Tim took over all the work.
I can remember I remember a huge deep skillet that was on his stove and the scent of garlic cooking dripping across the kitchen into in the dining room.
I can remember waiting for a long time.
Most of the time, I recall eating a large portion of these for myself, along with slices of toast , if I recall correctly, and thinking that the man who was sitting beside me was full of knowledge and surprise, and was someone that I would like to discover more.
To many of those who knew me before meeting Tim my life has changed over the past few years since my meeting with Tim has often seemed like a flash of things.
In the beginning of years, some of my dear friends thought that this new man in my life could be altering things in a way that was too radical..
It’s difficult to explainto those who aren’t influenced by your choices when you make a change to an obvious thing such as job, location and relationship, school or your clothing choices – that in some ways, we’re always evolving. Even if the change may seem overwhelming It’s not.
In the world of life there are huge actions such as moving to Nashville but then there are smaller steps such as launching a newsletter, selecting a different kind of bread or keeping a journal each day. However, all of these steps change us constantly and always advancing us in either way or the other. Our lives are never static.
From a perspective of having lived in Tennessee for a long time developing my craft as well as growing my relationship to my best friend sharing meals at the dining table, and enjoying our favourite dishes such as the green beans we ate at dinner time, the only thing I am feeling is grateful.
How fortunate am I to have someone who studies olive oil to have fun and tries out einkorn doughnuts on Friday morning who inspires me to seek delight in the most everyday routines?
Recipe
1/4 cup olive oil
3 cloves garlic, minced
12 1 ounces (1 1 1/2 cups) diced tomatoes, fresh or canned
24 Ounces (1 half a pound) freshly-frozen or fresh green beans
1 teaspoon of salt and to your taste
1/4 teaspoon of freshly crushed black pepper plus additional to taste
INSTRUCTIONS
Warm olive oil on moderate temperature in a large deep frying pan, on the stove.
Add garlic, and stir until fragrant, stirring every 30 seconds to one minute.
Mix in the tomatoes and simmer for approximately 5 minutes, or until they’ve broken down little and formed the consistency of a thick sauce. Stir frequently.
Add green beans , and stir them to coat them with the tomato mix.
Cook covered on low heat for 20-25 mins If using fresh beans (25-35 minutes when using frozen) for 20-25 minutes, or until the beans become soft and crisp and tender.
Add the salt as well as pepper. Taste and add salt or pepper if desired. Serve immediately.